Samsung TL350

Auto Mode

The Smart Auto mode (available via the mode dial via an icon in the universally accepted green-for-easy color) uses scene recognition to choose appropriate camera settings for the scene you're seeing. All user settings are locked out except for image size.

Movie Mode

Shooting video is a core competency of the TL350. Straightforward movie shooting is supported at the full 1080p high-def spec, and there's an HDMI output for viewing your movies directly on a high-def TV. There are two separate 1920 x 1080 settings (presumably with different bit rates for larger and smaller file sizes), plus 1280 x 720, 640 x 480 and 320 x 240.

But what if reality is just too fast-moving for your taste? You're in luck: the TL350 allows you to shoot video at far higher than normal speeds -- up to 1000 frames per second, in fact -- which when played back translates into dramatically slow-motion video. At the extremes, you get the kind of balloon-popping-in-slow-motion video that was once the province of scientific researchers using high-priced lab equipment. However, the more you push the number of frames per second you're recording, the lower the resolution you record. At the top 1000 fps rate, this translates to a fairly silly 128 x 78 pixel resolution, and even then requires bright lighting to see much of anything. However, as you throttle the speed down, the results become both fun to watch and kind of intriguing. Shooting at 240 frames per second, for example, slows motion to a crawl and still yields a 320 x 240 pixel resolution clip that's reasonably watchable.

Drive/Burst Mode

While going slow in video mode undoubtedly has its fans, it's the high-speed still photographic capability of the TL350 that we find intriguing. Samsung claims a 10-shot-per-second burst rate at full 10-megapixel resolution. And, while we could not check this out with the pre-production model we were testing, anything from about 7 shots per second up is great for sports photography, or catching kids running 90mph is full flight.

Another interesting option here is the ability to capture a full-res still while you're shooting video. Again, we can't swear that there won't be a hiccup in the video recording when you use this feature, but it does offer the promise of exceptional flexibility.

Self-timers with 2- and 10-second settings are provided, as expected. More surprising, and potentially a lot more fun, is the interval timing capability, which lets you mount the camera on a tripod and set the time interval between shots, number of shots to be taken, and the starting time.

Playback Mode

There are three views available in playback mode, toggled by pressing upward on the four-way controller. One is a clean screen, the second has a minimal information overlay, and the third includes full information about the stored shot, including ISO, flash setting, image size and date taken.

Scene Modes

Preset scene modes, which tailor camera settings to a particular shooting situation without making manual adjustments, include fireworks, beach & snow, panorama (up to 6 shots), beauty shot, night, portrait, children, landscape, closeup, text, sunset, dawn, and backlight.